Below are resources for early childhood professionals and those serving the early childhood community.
Early Childhood Education Commission of the States (ECS) staff provide fast, in-depth and unbiased answers to pressing education policy questions. The following is their response to a question from a state member organization that asked for information about whether the effects of early education programs continue past third grade and if students who do not participate in pre-k programs are able to catch up to their peers by third grade.
New Research Finds State-By-State Gaps in Head Start Programs NIEER’s 479-page report, “State(s) of Head Start,” delved into data from the year 2014-15 for all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and six U.S. territories. While the program was established more than 50 years ago, the report is the first of its kind. (Herald-Tribune, Dec. 18)
B-3 Alignment The U.S. Department of Education just released findings from a descriptive study that examined the implementation of P-3 alignment, including differentiated instruction, in five programs. The report looks at Boston Public Schools, Chicago Child-Parent Centers, Early Works Initiative, FirstSchool, and Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL). All five programs focus on elementary schools that include on-site/co-located PreK classrooms and strive to create greater coherence across the PreK-3rd grade continuum.
Nobel Laureate: Birth-to-Five Programs Pay Off (Over and Over) Nobel Prize-winner James Heckman’s new analysis of two landmark FPG projects finds a sizeable return on investment per year.
